Hello.
Reading time: maybe 2 minutes, but it's worth it
How are you going to leave gracefully when time's up on your career? Well, you won't get any clues about doing it right from quarterback Brett Favre.
And even though it's football season, I promise no cheesy sports analogies below.
Only a quick take on where your head (and heart) need to be when it's time to walk away from your life's work.
All the best,
Joe Grant
joe@joegrantconsulting.com
P.S. When was the last time you found out - objectively - how your clients feel about your agency? Our core skill is helping agencies do a better job for their clients by independently assessing agency-client relationships. Find out more at our website www.joegrantconsulting.com.
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 Repurposing
Last month's Brett Favre debacle got me thinking about how gracelessly some company principals unplug from their jobs when it's time to leave. Favre waffled for several years then finally pulled the plug in a memorably mushy press conference. But wait - a few months later he recanted.
Remind you of anyone? I've seen similar sloppy and disruptive uncouplings when agency principals struggle to move on.
Ex-CEOs tell us the mechanics - pricing, pay-outs, timing - are easy compared to what comes after. The biggest pothole on the path to a graceful exit is not knowing what you want to do after you walk out the door. Because if your self-concept is totally defined by your job, you'll have a devil of a time even facing up to the idea that it's time to go.
Yet the signs will be there. You'll begin to notice it's harder getting juiced about going to work. That will make you feel guilty. Your fuse gets shorter and what were once minor aggravations now really fry your bacon. You feel unsettled, at sea. These are not-so-subtle signals that it's time to own up to the calendar and move on. Except all you really know how to do is what you've been doing all these years.
So back to Brett for a moment. Maybe he's been at peace only when throwing long bombs on Sundays. Did his life have meaning after leaving the "job" he'd been doing since childhood?
What will you do once the technicalities of selling (or giving) the company to your successors are sorted out? Can you stand alone without a C-suite title or the daily approbation of a staff, your ersatz family? You need balance before you shed the costumes and props of your act.
If your job is the most important thing in your life - if it's your source of identity and purpose - you're in trouble. You probably know someone who stopped working and soon slid into depression, staying in bed most mornings, drinking too much, or worse. Who hasn't heard of otherwise healthy blokes who were dead a year or two after they holstered their Mont Blancs?
Maybe Brett never developed interests beyond football. Call them hobbies, avocations, or passions, if you like, but there must be things more valuable than just your job, right? Professional counselors will make you answer this question: What would you do if you never had to worry about working or earning money again? Or. . . How would you spend your time if you knew you had only 6 months to live? Heavy, huh.
For younger folks reading this thinking these dilemmas are far in your future, don't blow it off. We're all on the same train; it's just that some of us pull into the station sooner than others. The earlier you figure out what really matters - that your job is a means to an end and not the end itself - the happier you'll be.
Our pal Brett is not out of the woods, you know. He'll have another press conference someday when he's finally too beat up to play. I hope between now and then he discovers something to fuel him that's at least as meaningful as football.
I grew up catching Johnny Carson at night on Chicago TV. Now there was a guy who after a brilliant career left the stage with elegance. He did a classy final show, never to return again. He had new purposes to fulfill, mainly indulging his passions for astronomy and history, and for kicks playing some tennis and poker with old pals until the end. It was a clean and stylish uncoupling.
You can do it too. And still have time on Sundays to watch Brett toss Hail Marys.
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About Grant Consulting
Grant Consulting, formed in 1992 by Joe Grant, is a consultative resource for advertising agency principals who want to improve their agencies. The firm works on a highly selective basis with agency senior managers to help them discover and then reach their full potential. Copyright 2008 Grant Consulting Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. We encourage sharing in whole or in part if copyright and attribution are included. Contact us at:
Grant Consulting
239.394.8220
joe@joegrantconsulting.com
www.joegrantconsulting.com |
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